How to Play Phỏm (Tá Lả)

What is Phỏm?

Phỏm, also called Tá Lả, is the rummy game of northern Vietnam. Each player builds phỏm (sets and runs) from nine cards. After four rounds everyone lays down, and the player with the fewest points in loose cards wins.

What makes it lively is eating (ăn): you can grab the card the player before you just threw, if it completes a phỏm in your hand. Eat well and you may even go Ù, with every card in phỏm, and win on the spot.

This page describes the rules the game at bs.fyi uses. Phỏm is played in many slightly different ways; the choices we made are listed near the end.

Phỏm at a glance

The whole game in a few lines:

Players

2 to 4 (4 against the bots at bs.fyi)

Deal

9 cards each; the first player gets 10 and starts by discarding

Phỏm

3 or 4 of a rank, or 3+ in a row in one suit (ace low)

Card points

Ace 1, 2–10 face value, Jack 11, Queen 12, King 13

Your turn

Eat the last discard into a phỏm, or draw; then discard

End

After everyone has discarded four times; fewest loose points wins

Ù

All your cards in phỏm: you win at once

Card order and points

Rank order (lowest to highest)

Phỏm

A phỏm is a group of at least three cards. There are two kinds:

How to play Phỏm, step by step

Eating: the rules

You can only eat the card discarded by the player right before you, and only if it makes a phỏm with two or more cards already in your hand.

Every eaten card has to end up in a phỏm when you lay down, and a phỏm can hold only one eaten card. So you can't eat a card, or throw a card, if that would make it impossible to keep each eaten card in its own phỏm.

Eating costs the player you eat from: they pay you 1. Eating a card from someone's fourth round, called ăn chốt, costs them 4.

Ù: winning at once

If at any point in your turn all your cards form phỏm (or all but the one card you're about to discard), you can declare Ù and win immediately. Each other player pays you 5. If all ten of your cards are in phỏm, that's Ù tròn and each player pays 10.

If you go Ù on a turn where you ate, the player you ate from pays everyone's share (Ù đền): they gave you the card that won it.

Móm

A player who has no phỏm to lay down is móm. Móm players finish last whatever their points, can't lay off, and pay the winner 4.

Places and payments

With three players, 2nd pays 1 and last pays 2; with two, the loser pays 1. Ties go to whoever laid down first. Payments are in stakes; at bs.fyi they are points on your record.

House rules at bs.fyi

Phỏm varies from table to table. We count rounds by turns, so there is no reshuffle of the discard rows (tái) after an eat. We don't use Ù khan (a hand with no phỏm or pairs at all) or the penalty for being eaten from three times. Eating pays 1 and ăn chốt 4, as many home tables play it; some tables don't charge for eating at all.

Tips

• •Throw high cards early. A King costs 13 if it's still loose at the end. Get rid of loose J, Q and K while it's cheap to do so.
• •Keep your cạ. Two cards one away from a phỏm are worth holding: they let you eat.
• •Watch what the next player eats. Their eaten cards are face up. Don't throw them a card that fits.
• •Don't go móm. Ending with no phỏm puts you last and costs 4. A small phỏm is better than none.
• •Know when to chase Ù. If you're one card away, keep the hand together; one more eat can win the whole table.

Frequently Asked Questions